Rabbi's Blog

The conflict in the world between good and evil is reflected in the notion of holiness and impurity. One difference between these two opposites is that good and evil are horizontal while holiness and impurity are somewhat vertical. The state of impurity takes a person spiritually down, while kedusha - holiness - raises a person's soul. The cycle of opposites continues throughout a person's life: the ups and downs and the good and bad. The spiritual world, however, differs. Kedusha/holiness has a snowball effect on a person's life. The more a person gets involved with Torahand Mitzvos the greater the chance that he will strive to do more.

I believe the Parshios of the Torah are connected from beginning to end. In this week's Parsha Shmini there is an obvious synergy between the beginning and the end of the parsha. Shmini, meaning the eighth, is the number that is one above nature. The number seven represents nature and the natural order of the world, while the eighth takes it up a notch. After one week of life, a baby boy receives his bris on the eighth day. This eighth day was after the seven-day inauguration period and preparation when the kohanim prepared for the Mishkan. This day signified the readiness of the Mishkan - the Tabernacle- the spiritual abode of the Almighty. The end of the Parsha contains explicit mention of holiness. In Vayikra 11:45 the Torah states "Ki Ani Hashem HaMaaleh Eschem Mei Eretz Mitzrayim L'Hiyos Lachem Leilohim, V'Hiyisem KedoshimKiKadosh Ani" "For I am Hashem Who brings you up from the land of Egypt to be a God unto you; you shall be holy, for I am holy".

*Rav Meshulam Fayish Tzvi (Herman) Gross (1863-1947), in his sefer Nachlas Tzvi, asks why the verse uses the term HaMaaleh, which means 'bring up' rather than the most often used term 'who took you out' in reference to Hashem taking the Jews out of Egypt? Rav Meshulam explains as follows: If a person would ask "How is it possible for me to purify myself and make myself holy after I have been immersed and seeped in impurity?" He answers that once a person actually goes through that mental exercise of even asking "How do I become holy?" genuinely desiring to have an awakening of repentance and has his mind set in this positive direction, then Hashem helps him from heaven and instantaneously he will climb to the highest level and become Kadosh- holy!

This entire concept is predicated on the story of the exodus from Egypt (perhaps this is why we read Shmini immediately after Pesach). The Jewish people had sunk to the forty-ninth level of impurity, yet in one second, with a snap of His finger, with the blink of His eye, the Jewish people ROSE UP to the forty-ninth level of holiness. The word 'taking out' is reserved for the physical manner in which the Jews left Egypt, while the word HaMaaleh, to lift up, is used to describe the spiritual manner. Physical things take time to occur and transfer from one zone to another, while kedusha, holiness, moves in an instant.

The word 'V'Hiskadishtem - and you were made holy - happens in one moment, that moment being the desire in one's heart to elevate his neshama to a holy plane. Therefore, no one should doubt himself, asking how he can get out from under the filth and junk of society. It only takes a man's desire to throw off the dirt and want to become clean and reach the level of holiness, just like Hashem did for us when HE took us out of Mitzrayim. Once God put this method of desiring of elevation into the world, it became accessible to us anytime WE want to use it.

When Hashem tells us to be holy because He is holy, He is actually teaching us this same principle. Since Hashem is holy He has now given us an available option available to take whenever we desire it. It is an attainable goal because the formula has been distributed and anyone can buy it. With this in mind, we can also answer the following question: When the Jewish people went from the forty-ninth level of impurity to the forty-ninth level of kedusha, did they go down forty-nine and then up forty-nine? I don't think so. I believe it wasn't necessary to go from one extreme to the other in the natural way of going one rung at a time. Rather, it was instantaneous from one extreme to the other in a super-natural manner which lies above the laws of nature known as Teva, morphing into a pure, spiritual, holy state in one second.

This is emphasized in the concluding verses where the Torah 'divides' and 'distinguishes' between the tameh and tahor: the animals that are eaten and those that are not eaten. Separation also happens in a split second. An ordinary kosher animal species has its status elevated in one second as it is slaughtered in a ritual manner for a mitzvah purpose. The difference between kosher and non-kosher also happens immediately; it can become treif or kosher in just an instant. The ability for all of these examples to occur originates from the way Hashem lifted us out from Egypt.

In today's day and age life seems to speed along so quickly. Things are changing so fast it is difficult to keep up with the ever-evolving life around us. By the time we buy the newest gadget it's already old and out of vogue. Just as the physical world changes so quickly, so too does our spiritual life. We have the ability to jump to the highest levels of holiness and spirituality but we must be careful because we can also fall just as quickly. We strive during the days of counting the Omer, which is the climb to the forty-nine levels of greatness and the goal of complete holiness. Let's not forget that the climb can happen very quickly and instantaneously through imitating and emulating the ways of Hashem.

Ah Gut Shabbos Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky

*Rabbi Gross was a businessman, inventor and learned layman, author of two sefarim of Torah novellae, Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi.

Herman Grosz (as his name was then spelled) was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1863. Soon after, his family moved to Nyírbátor, where he was raised. His father, Reuven, was engaged in business, possibly as a breeder or trader of horses. As a young man, Meshulam reportedly was involved in "breaking" horses for his father. It is not known which yeshivas he attended, although it is believed that much of his Torah learning was self-acquired. In 1890 he married Leah Billiczer, daughter of Rabbi Amram Yishai Halevi Billiczer, Av Beth Din of Szerencs, Hungary and a descendant of a long line of rabbis. The family originally came from Spain and reportedly were descendants of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (the Shelah HaKadosh, whose ancestry has been traced to Rashi and Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar).

Gross immigrated to the United States in 1893 and settled in New York's Lower East Side. After World War I, the family moved to Boro Park, Brooklyn.

After engaging in a variety of business ventures, he settled in the women's blouse business, which, after his retirement, was carried on by his sons into the 1950s. He viewed his business solely as a means of subsistence, for his true passion was Torah. He retired from business at a relatively young age to devote himself to Torah study and was supported by his sons.

He is remembered as sitting at his desk, in a book-lined study, with a "shivisi" sign in front of him and a number of sefarim opened before him. He rose many hours before dawn each day to learn and write. He was attentive and meticulous to beautifying religious observance, and paid particular attention to the selection of an etrog, the purchase of a beautiful etrog box, and the decoration of his sukkah, arguably one of the first in the country that had canvas walls. Although his son Moshe was the chazan of a large Orthodox synagogue only a block away, he refrained from going there because the Torah was not read from a central bimah.

His two sefarim, Nachlas Tzvi and Ateres Tzvi, contain original Torah thoughts on the Chumash. The profundity of his knowledge of Chumash, Navi, Talmud, Rishonim and Acharonim are readily apparent throughout. He combined an encyclopedic knowledge with an inventive and creative mind to develop highly original and novel interpretations of the Chumash. A student of the Zohar, he had a weekly chavrusa (learning partnership) to study Kabbalah with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and he used this source liberally in his works.

His primary work, Nachlas Tzvi, although not widely known, includes approbations from exceptionally great and famous Torah luminaries, including the Lubavitcher Rebbe (who never gave approbations); Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, Av Beth Din of the Edah HaChareidis of Jerusalem and a representative of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum (who was most impressed by the sefer but had a rule that he didn't give approbations), Rabbi Nachum Wiedenfeld of Dombrova, Poland (brother of the Tchebiner Rav) and Rabbi Avrohom Elyashiv (father of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv).

Rabbi Gross invented one of the first vending machines. For a penny it dispensed candy and a fortune card, and a monkey tipped his hat. He also developed a pareve shortening made of coconut oil, and a device to keep food from burning. Patents were issued for many of his inventions. After World War II began, recognizing that lice was a serious problem for soldiers, he performed scientific experiments with mice, experimental and control groups, and developed a lice repellent which he offered to the Department of Defense; they opted, instead, for DDT.

He died on September 20, 1947 (6 Cheshvan 5708) and was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York. His family offers free copies of Nachlas Tzvi to anyone who commits to learning from it.